Will the boom in hydrofracking natural gas drilling contaminate our water supply?

Natural gas is often considered the “lesser of evils” in energy resources because it burns cleaner and is in plentiful supply. But a new process in gas drilling to extract those plentiful supplies—a process called hydrofracking or “fracking” raises concerns about health and environmental risks.

“Gasland: the Movie” is the Oscar-nominated documentary by Josh Fox about the current boom in gas extraction, and the environmental dangers it poses. Come see this movie and learn about “fracking” and what you can do about it.

Sponsored by Campus Ministry & Social Action, Just Peace (MC), Northwest Bronx for Change, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, Church of the Visitation Social Action Committee. Riverdale Neighborhood House, Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, American Society of Civil Engineers (MC), MC programs in Environmental Studies and Peace Studies

Movie starts promptly at 6:30pm

Manhattan College, Leo Engineering Building, Scala Auditorium

3825 Corlear Ave @ W238th Street (#1 train or Bx9 toW238th Street)

DIRT! The Movie–directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow–takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility– from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: “When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked.” But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT! the Movie is a call to action. Come learn all about Dirt and how you can get involved in BCEQ. For more info please email membership@bceq.org

A panel of experts convened by the mayor and City Council issued more than 100 recommendations Monday on how to make New York City’s building codes more environmentally sound by imposing energy-saving requirements on construction and renovation work.

The measures, presented to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Council’s speaker, Christine C. Quinn, include rules for insulating glass skyscrapers and a plan that would place temperature controls in individual apartments, eliminating the winter ritual of opening windows to vent excess heat.

Many of the proposals would need to be approved by the City Council.

“A lot of these are incremental gains, but together they amount to a big gain,” said the panel’s chairman, Russell Unger, the executive director of the New York chapter of the United States Green Building Council, which certifies green design and construction. “By changing code, everybody can have lower utility bills.”

The recommendations are the city’s latest attempt to reduce the greenhouse gases produced by its buildings, which are estimated to be the source of about 75 percent of the city’s emissions over all. In December, the City Council passed legislation requiring owners of New York’s largest buildings to pay for energy audits, upgrade lighting and take other steps to reduce energy consumption.

But as with previous green proposals for buildings, many of the improvements suggested on Monday could substantially increase the costs of renovation or construction.

The panel of experts, including representatives of the building industry and from environmental groups, said at a briefing that the city must find ways to secure financing and offer other incentives to help developers and managers make the changes.

“In general, the industry supports the overall goal,” said Charlotte Matthews, vice president for sustainability at the Related Companies, a major New York developer that has a representative on the task force.

She noted that some measures would be less palatable than others, and that in difficult economic times “any change is a little unnerving.”

But she said a stiffer code regulating buildings’ energy use was essential in meeting the city’s long-term environmental demands and “ensuring that all New Yorkers have a healthy home, school and workplace.”

The panel’s wish list includes requiring all commercial and residential buildings that are four stories or taller to meet the nation’s latest energy standards. Other proposals call for such buildings to be more airtight and to have minimal insulation.

One proposal would impose higher efficiency standards for heating systems and ban inefficient boilers in the city’s largest buildings. Another would phase in individual apartment temperature controls over a 10-year period.

Ms. Quinn said about half of the measures would not involve significant expenditures. The real estate industry’s participation in the process should help address concerns about costs, she added.

“It’s kind of a new way of looking at how we do business with a green perspective,” she said.

In a statement, Mayor Bloomberg said the recommendations by the panel, which was convened 18 months ago, were critical to meeting the city’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2030.

^{Open Spaces, Environment and Health}

^{Presentations}

^{Energy Efficiency}

^{Harlem River Working Group}

^{Shape Up NY}

^Workshops

^{Rain Water Harvesting}

^{Organic Growing Techniques}

^{Worm Bins Made Easy (composting)}

^{Panel Discussion}

^{Sustainable/Green Community Development}

^{Learn about all the Resources/Opportunities for Community Groups, Educators & Volunteers}

Join us for the 16th Annual Bronx Parks Speak Up

^{Saturday, Feb. 27th}

^{at Lehman College Faculty Dining Room}

^{11:30 am to 5 pm}

11:30am—12:30pm Registration

Networking, Refreshments & Live Music

^{For more info or to register e-mail to bxspeakup@hotmail.com.}

^{To reserve a table please send an e-mail to speakuptabling@hotmail.com by 2/19/10.}

Parks Speak Up!

Parks, Environment and Politics

Presentations

Working with Community Boards

Green Jobs

Health and the Environment

Workshops

Grant Writing

Starting Seeds

Building Alliances

Greening Morrisania (roundtable)

Panel Discussion

Politics and Parks with Bronx City Council Members

City Council Members Scheduled to Participate

Maria del Carmen Arroyo, 17^th Council District

Helen Diane Foster, 16^th Council District (Parks & Rec Comm. Chair)

G. Oliver Koppell, 11^th Council District

Joel Rivera, 16^th Council District (Majority Leader)

Larry Seabrook, 12^th Council District

James Vacca, 13^th Council District

Melissa Mark Viverito, 8^th Council District

Learn about all the Resources/Opportunities for Community Groups, Educators & Volunteers.

Saturday, Feb. 28^th

at Lehman College Faculty Dining Room

12 P.M. to 5 P.M.

11:30 A.M. Registration, Refreshments & Live Music

   

 

For more info or to register e-mail to bxspeakup@hotmail.com.

Directions:

Bx10 or Bx26 bus, D or 4 train to Bedford Park Blvd.

Special Thanks to Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), Bronx River Alliance, conEdison, Fordham Bedford Housing Corp., Friends of Ferry Point Park, Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, La Familia Verde, Lehman College, Mosholu Preservation Corp.,

Partnerships for Parks and Timberland.